Introduction
This invention relates most generally to mobile electric power generating systems. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in mobile electric power generating systems of the type comprising an enclosed trailer for carrying prodigious electric power generating equipment.
This invention also pertains to improvements in trailer enclosures which provide better access to, and facilitate improved assembly of trailer-mounted electric power generating systems having generating capacities ranging from about 100 kilowatts up to and exceeding 1000 kilowatts.
Trailer-mounted electric power generating equipment of the type described is designed as an independent, self-contained, source of electricity. The trailer is typically towed to a remote site, often in tropical or desert areas, where electric power is needed but unavailable through more conventional means. It is highly desirable that within a short time after arrival at the site, all necessary preparations will be promptly completed, so that large scale electric power generation can begin without prolonged delay. It is also desirable that these preparations be carried out with minimal skill, and without the aid of relatively sophisticated tools and equipment.
One important element of the mobile electric power generating system of the type described is the enclosure which houses the electric power generating equipment. This enclosure provides necessary protection for generating equipment from the dirt, sand, water, and weather of the generating environment. Though protection from the generating environment is desirable, this has been accomplished heretofore usually at the expense of such other desirable features as the ease with which the electric power generating equipmemt may be assembled and mounted within the enclosure; the ease with which maintenance of the generating equipment may be performed within the enclosure; the ease with which the generating equipment may be operated; and the degree of on-site assembly required. It is thus a primary object of the invention to provide a mobile electric generating system which protects the electric power generating equipment from the generating environment without sacrificing the foregoing features.
In mobile electric power generating systems of the type described, it is also highly desirable that the system components be fabricated and assembled expeditiously, to minimize construction time and expense. In the past, however, such systems have typically been constructed in a relatively cumbersome and inefficient piece-by-piece manner. Such methods are not only somewhat costly and time consuming, they do not make maximum use of the limited trailer space available. Accordingly, it is another object of the invention to provide improved methods of fabricating and assembling mobile electric power generating systems to provide heretofore unknown economies in trailer space and construction time.
Other objects, features and advantages, including improved apparatus, operations, and methods, will become more apparent hereinafter.